Travelocity is getting serious about sustainable travel. Besides offering free carbon offsets for the 2009 holiday season, the online travel agency also provides a convenient and simple Green Hotel Directory as part of its Travel for Good Program.

Alison Presley, manager of Travelocity’s Travel for Good Program, told Triple Pundit, “What makes our Green Hotel Directory so unique is that we flag green hotels across the site. If you shop for a hotel in San Francisco, all of the green options will be marked with our green leaf tag. For the customer, that means it’s easy and affordable to go green. Not only can you compare prices among the eco-friendly options, but you can even add a green hotel to a vacation package. We’re the only major online travel company with that functionality and we’re very proud of it.”

Properties listed in the Green Hotel Directory offer sustainable initiatives for the eco-conscious traveler. According to the website, in order to be listed in the directory, all of the eco-friendly properties have been “endorsed by a green hotel certification provider, appears in the Rainforest Alliance’s Eco-Index of Sustainable Tourism or is making significant strides in at least three of the four areas the Tourism Sustainability Council’s criteria.”

Once a property is certified and the documentation has been submitted to Travelocity, the property is added to the listing, which is updated monthly. When the Green Hotel Directory launched in January, 200 hotels were listed. Today, nearly 700 properties from all over the world are listed in the informative reference guide. Besides the eco-friendly factor, properties listed in the guide are available in a wide variety of price ranges.

And the Green Hotel Directory is getting a brand new look. The revamped site, expected to debut late Thursday evening, will make it even easier for travelers to locate eco-friendly and affordable hotels near and far.

And just how popular are green hotels? Although no specific data is currently available, a recent Travelocity survey revealed a green rating would have at least “some influence” on hotel selection for 59 percent of those surveyed.

As a full-time freelance writer, Jace is the Internet Feature Writer for Suite101 and is the Holidays and Working Moms Examiner for Examiner.com. She is a regular contributor for Energy Boom, EcoWorldly and PlanetSave. She particularly enjoys writing about unusual and downright wacky environmental stories and issues plaguing wildlife and animals.Besides writing, Jace is also passionate about online safety and issues concerning children. As an Internet Safety educator, she teaches online safety and technology to 600 elementary-aged children every week for her local school district.Jace has two children who are both in college and is also mom to a slew of pets. Feel free to contact her with story leads or just drop her a note at jacer@siber-net.com.